I think the second half of the article is the main catalyst lurking behind this trend. Match has little care other than monopolizing the industry and using users as profit sources. They have blueprint patterns and user flows that they copy between their services. Users can feel that they are not using a service that is inspired.<p>I think the best example is when match took over OKCupid. Before the takeover, it was designed around long-form profiles building deep sets of questions and answers that could be, compared and contrasted between users. It was fun. There were many dozens of little features on that site that were fun to explore and were innovative for the space.<p>After the takeover, 90% of the site was stripped away in short order. All the personality type stuff, all of the questions and answers, all of the matching engines, most of the long-form profile features, etc. All gone. Replaced with a tinder clone that was only half functional, sucked for maximum revenue and left to die so that the match groups main revenue drivers could continue to grow without competition.<p>There is a huge opportunity cost of lost innovation because match swoops in and extinguishes any bright upstarts. Or at least they get most of them, and I'm sure the target list continues to grow.